Response counter for totalizing current surges of varying magnitudes



Jan. 24, 1950 P. FEHR RESPONSE COUNTER FOR TOTALIZING CURRENT SURGES 0F VARYING MAGNITUDES Filed March 27, 1945 INVENTOR PAUL FEHR to the strength .of the suppressed Surges.

Patented Jan. 24, 1950 RESPONSE COUNTER FOR TOTALiZING CURRENT SURGES (IF VARYING'MAG- NITUDES Paul Fehr, Zug, switze ndlassignor o Landis .& Gyr, A. G., lug,

porate of Switzerland Switzerland; a body cor- I Application March 27, 1945, semi-1x10485431 In Switz rlan a ch :27 19.411 p 4 C ms- The present invention relates to a response counter for overvoltages on long overhead lines due to atmospheric influencesYor switchings and has for its purpose numerically ascertaining the peration of overvol-tage suppressors by taking into account the approximate strength of the arrester current.

The counting of occurring .overvoltages makes the most exacting demands on a counting device, because currents present in therdischarge gaps (sparbover of the aitrester) are of extremely short surge duration varying in duration from 105 to 1.9- second of time.

Various devices have been brou ht forward so .far for performing such counting, and which are based on magnetic, electro-dynamic, thermal or chemical action of the arrester current There has been known a device, in which a fraction of the suppressed current flowing through the arrester traverses a heating filament housed in a gas-filled tank, whereby under the influence of the warmth produced \altank-sealing diaphragm acts upon a counter. This known arrangement has the disadvantage that it conveys no data as .In contra-distinction thereto the present invention represents a further evolution of such a device, .being distinguished by the fact that vfor eounting and measuring electric current surges of short duration (one millionth to a hundredth of a second) various spring-loaded counters are provided, being released in sequence through associated levers acted uponflas a function of the lift'of a diaphragm piston. Preferably, however there is still provided another counter forcountv ,ing a line current following alter a surge,

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawing inwhich one embodiment is illustrated by moral I designates a tank closed ontop by a diaphragm and at the bottom by an insulating disc 3. Across the insulating disc 3 two current supply wires 4 and '5 lead to aheating filament 1.6

tightened on two small .irar'nes l ands of .insulatc ing material. I a a i p The diaphragm 2 is connected through two press-plates e and it witha pressuretransferring disc H. The upper press-plate ii] .is at the same time adapted to supportfladiaphragm' piston 1.2. testing the vdiaphragm .2 and is integral witha vertical bush for guiding the diaphragm piston 2' a is H g The movement of the diaphragm piston 12 is Way of example. Therein, nu-

A lid 14 serves for mounting and pro tr nsmitted over a set scr w 1. o o a rs tripe lev b ing pivo elly arr nged about an a is mid h sed by an adjus abl spr n l8 aga t abu men is. The free ex em f the tr ole erl i ork d and each Iu c ion ea ri no lpin 2.0 a 21 res ect e y for a release asserting 2,2.

mnii ns pin 2L3 at ached to the tr pdever i6 amending in .as o o a but str 2- id s ot bein adju ab e in its ength y a plate 241.) o bles the mov ent o the tr p -lev r it to be transferred on to a second trip-lever 2.5 ful- Lei-ame on an ax s 5 and bl sse b an adju table spring 2'! against .astop 2B, The free extr m ty of the winever t sp o ls d an a Iurcation ca ies .2 cont ml 29 and 3!] respectiv y (fora releas (The ot t onal ,in vemento ax s an e ed on to lever 33' being adj sta l m un ed "thereon .andfltted t e pints Upon perf mance ila D -giv n otar ansle, th pin .32 tomes int operative co nection w th an ofiset po tion 34 of a third .tri e ev .35 be n loose y mounted on axis 26 and ,biassed by anadjustable pring 1 aga n a s op 3: The free end of trip-l ver 35 is again Io keda d l a h flirtat n carries a v, contlqol pin .38 .andSQ respectively for a release'wing 4.0. H

T In addi ion to t e alre dyment oned release w ng 2 31' and 40 t er i provid d ano r release wing 4| controlled by a pin moun ed on an armature 43 of {a trip-relay i4. Thereby, the armature is kept in the pos ion o rest clea [o th ey po e-piece as pr ng 9 tha thelo'ontrol pin .42 lies the at of th release'wing '41."

Alltherekaw Wines are su jected to he a tion o a sp ing motor A5,} Th r nsm s o o the sprin p er to the release wines ta es p ace th ough d f erentials i13 Dwnd D s as to enabl ea h elease" wins t u n nd ndently o one another For instancaxwh e re eas Moe t has has se tree by th sontrol p n i nespf ins 1 We; can be transfe r ed'f om pring moto 55 audio Pinion :41 on to an -enicye ic' wheel at of the dif erential .sea JDi and th m thr u h he intermediate gears and '011 to an e ic'yolic wh e 1 o th .di ierent a D2. Dif e nt a D2 of di'el actuate the saunte ls o as l nerhani m asso ia ed with t ip i evt ifisin e release wins 1 u er such on i e oiio a It a paren a dif e j D2 w l no at su time tr nsm m ion to re i te ng mechanism llla s ciat d w h p leve them s the motio t ansm tting mas in- The amount of the spring tension in motor 45 is indicated on a graduated scale 62 through the medium of a moving nut 58 and a spring-actuated lever system 60,

The action of this arrangement is as follows:

A heating filament s housed within tank I is 7 warmed proportional to the current surge according to the strength and duration of the impulse. This heating causes expansion of the air in tank I. The pressure thus 2 which flexes upwardly moving with it the piston l2. The movement of piston ferred through the set screw [5 on to the triplever [B which, by counteracting a spring I8, is turned upwardly and upon completion of a certain definite path takes the control pin 20 out of the way of the release wing 22. Thus the release wing 22, being through two diiferential gears D1 and D2 subject to the action of the spring motor 46, suddenly begins to turn, but can only rotate through half a revolution, since the arrangement is so devised that the control pin 2| lies already within the path of the release wing 22 when the pin 20 releases it. The rotary movement of the wing 22 is transferred through a pair of gears 54 to the counting mechanism I which thus registers each operation.

If the lift of the diaphragm piston I2 grows to such an extent that the coupling pin 23 upon completion of the lost motion abuts on the adjustable stop 24 then the movement is transferred through the member 24 attached to the trip-lever 25, whereby the control pin 29 releases the Wing 31 for half a turn. The rotational movement of the wing 3| is transmitted through the mating gears 55 on to the counter II which thus registers each operation.

With sufiiciently great lift, the rotary movement of the trip-lever 25 is transferred across the axis 25 rigidly connected thereto, over crank 33 and pin 32 on to trip-lever 35, since with nullified play between 32 and 34, the pin 32 engages the offset portion 34 of trip-lever 35 and takes same against the action of the adjustable spring 36. In so doing the control pin 38 releases moreover the wing 40 whose rotary movement is conveyed through the mating gears 58 on to counter III causing same to switch forward through one figure.

The trip-relay 44 is in its turn only actuated if upon decay of an overvoltage surge there still flows a line current following it. In this case this relay gets energized so far that it attracts its armature 43, whereby the control pin 42 releases the wing 4l. In this event, too, the conditions are so provided that the release wing 4| can each time only rotate through half a circle which turn is transferred through the mating gears 51 on to counter IV causing same to register another operation.

A front plate, as one may imagine for the example of embodiment described hereinbefore, has consequently four openings for the counters I, II, III and IV and an aperture for the spring index lever SI. On the counter I, H and III pressure surges of growing strength are indicated, whereby the counter I integrates surges of minor and the counter In those of major strength, whereas counter II fulfills the same task for current surges of average strength. Due to the adjustability of the play between the diaphragm piston and the first trip-lever and between the various triplevers one is free to select at will the strength of the surges to be counted. Hence the counters I, II and III indicate not only the number of the surges occurred, but valuable deductions may be made therefrom as to the energy of the current 'waves which has been effective.

Independently of the counters I to III, the counter IV registers the number of the cases in which a line current has followed a surge. Thus a small current surge causes actuation of register exerted acts on diaphragm I2 is trans- I, a larger surge causes actuation of registers I and II while a maximum current surge causes registers I, II and III to be actuated, and in case the surge is followed by a line current, register IV is additionally actuated.

The whole arrangement is so provided that the diaphragm need actuate only the extremely light designed trip-levers, whereas the driving of the counters requiring comparatively much power is assumed by a spring motor. By this it is attained that for tripping the counters a very slight power just sufiices.

Since each counter involves but a very slight run down of the spring-barrel 46, a re-winding of the spiral spring readily suflices to perform several hundreds switchings, so that the afore-de scribed response counter requires little attention.

Obviously, the counters remain not limited in number. There might be utilized just as well less or more than three units.

Both the heating filament 6 and the coil of the trip-relay 44 are placed in parallel on a voltagedependent resistance (not shown) being put in series with the over-voltage arrester. This arrangement sets out to achieve that the current in the filament resistance 6 does not increase in proportion to the arrester current, but reaches only a peak value which lies far below that of the suppressor current. The voltage-dependent resistance has consequently a flattening effect and is I intended to avoid a destruction of the filament resistance in the event of very intense discharges.

Obviously changes may be made by those skilled in the art in the apparatus herein described and illustrated within the purview of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a device for counting and measuring electric current impulses by utilizing a fraction of the suppressed current traversing an arrester resistance to move an element in accordance with the strength of the suppressed current, the combination of a plurality of spring loaded counters, individual escapements for each of said counters, selectively operable releasing means for the escapements, an actuator for said releasing means, said actuator being connected to each of said releasing means and simultaneously moving said releasing means to diiferent extents in accordance with the strength of the suppressed. current, one of said releasing means operating its escapement on movement of said actuator, and another releasing means operating solely on larger movements of said actuator.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which all of said counters are connected to and loaded by a single spring motor.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 in which the spring motor is drivingly connected to the counters through a plurality of diflerential gearings.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the escapement releasing means comprise a plurality of interlinked levers movable to diflerent degrees dependent on the strength of the current, one or more of said escapements being released by movement of said levers.

PAUL FEHR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Child Oct. 19, 1886 Maturin Jan. 10, 1922 Heinhold Nov. 4, 1924 Creighton Aug. 11, 1925 Carlson Jan. 21, 1930 Whitehead May 7, 1940 Anderson Feb. 1, 1944 Berger June 16, 1945 

